Lifestyle and Place

Yes this post is a little late, but I wanted to still reflect for a moment on the architecture of Frank Harmon, brought up last week. Because I grew up in the Lowcountry, some of his work speaks to me on a level that I’ve really come to appreciate. Because of my personal experiences, I don’t think that I can have as much insight into the work of Sanaa or the Latopie House by Vassal & Lacaton on how it might tie into the existing fabric of their places, but in the Seven Sisters wood home in St. Helena, it’s something that fits so seamlessly into the landscape it's quite remarkable.

The massive screened porch is the focal point of the house, and on a small scale, fits well within the discussion of architecture and control purveyed by Harbraken, as it provides much of a blank slate for the users to inhabit the areas enclosed by the screens very much in their own way, without commentary from the architect’s design. But it’s also extremely vernacular, because a large screened porch is simply the best way to enjoy sitting outside in marshy areas like this, due to mosquito prevalence. In this way, Harmon’s work shows that it shares values with existing typologies in the area, yet still retains his hand in the approach--putting the porch visually at the front end of the house, whereas most other area houses would have the porch completely in the back of the house. 

Other details help tie it to its place in the Lowcountry, most notable how the building sits atop large “green” pressure treated pillars. Elevating houses in the floodplains is not unique but a common design requirement in many structures in this part of the country, but the way that it is expressed is immediately noticeable by anyone who has spent a decent amount of time on the waterways of the east coast. In this way also, Harmon is again expressing a shared value with an accepted way of doing things in this area. It is a move that transcends aesthetics, but rather feeds straight into the culture of an area.

The same double joist attachment to piers is ubiquitous amongst lowcountry docks

Quoth Harbraken, “In architecture, such skills include, for instance, making variations on an accepted typology, or using agreed upon patterns, or setting up a system of parts and relations for the creation of different forms in the same style. All this helps to share values.”


I very much agree with this, but acknowledge that in varying scales and places (think large active cities, with high levels of transience and extreme diversity in culture), this mentality may dissolve, in which case, other guiding principles are perhaps more relevant. On a smaller scale, in "slower" places, where the culture is very much expressed in the forms that people walk through everyday, what Harmon does with his ability to play into the existing culture, I think is fantastic.